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No, you don’t really need to teach a foreign language. Feel better? Yeah, we get that, but not so fast. You don’t need to teach one, necessarily, but your children really ought to learn one.

Sure, it’s nerve-wracking. Melanie so agrees. She has awful memories of high school French. Unfortunately those memories don’t extend to anything more than, “Bonjour!” Whoops! That’s not much to show for three years work, is it?

The problem is that we’re in a different world than we were even when we were kids. When we were children, it was a huge deal for someone to travel overseas and most people never did. In fact, we knew people that really had never traveled past the counties adjacent to theirs. Our children, though, have traveled on different continents, some of them even living in foreign countries for months at a time. We live in a global economy with far more day to day access to the rest of the world than seemed possible a few years ago.

Learning a foreign language helps your children see that it is possible to learn to communicate with people in their own language. It’s an eye-opener. It’s also required by many colleges for entrance. What can we do if we want to teach them but it seems impossible, though?

Get help! There are a ton of resources of all different kinds, so you don’t have to go it alone! Here are some of the things we’ve done: use elementary picture-based programs, use software programs, hire a tutor, go to classes (many cities have language schools run by immigrant populations), use podcasts and writing programs online, go overseas for total immersion, use macaronic programs (that start out mostly in your language and introduce words and phrases bit by bit), and we’re currently reviewing a Total Physical Response Storytelling program we like a lot (Excelerate Spanish). And, no, we aren’t rich, rather the opposite, but it’s amazing the opportunities that come up! Really, there is something for every learning style, situation, and budget. There’s no need to panic.

Besides, maybe your children will be better at picking up languages than you are. It’s been amazing to see our guys converse with someone in Mandarin Chinese. God really can do anything! LOL

Yours in the battle,

Hal & Melanie

It’s not too late to sign up for this session of Boot Camp 9-12, our LIVE webinar series exclusively for parents of nine to twelve year old boys to help them get geared up for the teen years! We just started last night and the recording will be ready for you to watch once you register. Check it out here!

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